From Vagabond to Lord…
Volya Ukraina travelled to Ukraine once again, now with the aim of helping an animal shelter in the town called Uzgorod.
The day when we planned to visit the shelter, early in the morning we found a post on Facebook saying that a small dog has been abandoned on the street. With no further plan in mind volunteers of Volya Ukraine went on a search for the abandoned puppy.
Our expectations were that the puppy will be at least 15 weeks of age however it was barely 3-month-old. Volya Ukraina took him in to rescue the dog and bring him over to England. However, many challenges were thrown out way along our journey.
Benjie’s story is a long one! He is a Rottweiler cross breed who has a strong character even for his young age, every hard moment of this trip was worth it as our end goal was to gift him a loving home where he would never have to face abandonment again. We went through endless vets to get all the vaccinations, postponing the return date for us and making sure he was 100% ready to be welcomed in England. When we were 3 days away from leaving for our journey to England, we decided to bring Benjie out to Hungary to exchange his passport for a Hungarian one, here is where the Ukrainian border control turned their backs on us and even though we had all the documents for Benjie proving his vaccinations and general health, they nearly turned us back until we fact proofed our way into Hungary. We were not gonna back down from there! However, Benjie was not allowed back to Ukraine, and we had to seek an immediate home for him in Hungary for a few days until Volya Ukraina finished up their work in Ukraine. An amazing woman who is a friend and big supporter of Volya Ukraina took Benjie in for those few days and helped us a lot by making our journey quicker. These weren’t all the challenges, the animal transporters that were supposed to transport our puppy refused 2 days before the trip, and we had to find quick solutions. Calling all animal carriers we could find, we ended up calling a company that delivers furniture from Ukraine to England, they took both Benjie and us in. Driving us through the who Europe.
Near the British border control in Dunkirk we all got nervous, we all prayed they will let Benjie enter England and get on the ferry, AND THEY DID! This story could have never ended better. From the problematic border control in Ukraine to getting heatstroke in Hungary, this trip was a hard 3 weeks for Volya Ukraina, but nevertheless, we rescued one animal, by this making sure that at least one dog has a loving home away from the bombs and forever alarms. Our goal wasn’t only to provide the most love to this puppy but also it was to show everyone that everything is possible if you are determined enough. Just by putting food out to your front door you already helping. But by rescuing one you are allowing shelters to take in new animals that need to be evacuated from the war zone.
If you are interested in the further fate of Benjie, join his Instagram Volya_Benjamine 🐕
